Waltair Veerayya : Clairvoyance Lecture to Viewers

Star Cast: Chiranjeevi, Ravi Teja, Shruti Haasan, Rajendra Prasad, Catherine Tresa, Prakash Raj, Bobby Simha, and Urvashi Rautela
Music Composed by Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography by Arthur A. Wilson
Edited by Niranjan Devaramane Waltair Veerayya Review
Directed by KS Ravindra (Bobby Kolli)

“When you have nothing new to offer, create a puzzle for viewers to keep them engaged.” – A famous line that is taught at Film Schools by experienced technicians. This means creating a screenplay, that is, interesting enough to sustain an audience member’s curiosity in the proceedings. But Director Bobby and his writers went with a Clairvoyance Lecture for viewers. If you wish to become a vidhwan in predicting what is going to happen next, you can take watching Waltair Veerayya as your first step in getting that high, the feel and energy of being able to predict everything 30 minutes before. While you predict it and still wait to see, if that same thing will happen or not, Bobby finds an easy way to make you lose interest in even predicting any further. You just say how much more do I have to witness to know that “I can predict”. It is enough, let’s just end it here. During the climax, you can predict the proceedings but cannot predict the length or manner. Even Bobby lost interest and rushed it away. All thanks to him for that.

Megastar Chiranjeevi seems to have completely believed in the material and his star power to do the magic. In the 90s and 2000s Megastar showed maturity in trying to move away from what worked on him in the ’80s and early ’90s, so that he can unravel something much better from himself. Somehow, in his comeback to movies, Megastar Chiranjeevi seems to be trying everything, every possible throw off dice to prove that he is still relevant. In one of his interviews, he stated that he wants to enjoy movies and work in them but not think too much about the result. Well, the movie seems to be the complete opposite of his statement. Bobby and his team seem to have overcooked everything trying to match the stature of Chiranjeevi. Also, they seem to have just trusted in presenting the old formula in a new way and there is no effort in making a “New Movie” but to just play a highlight reel from Chiranjeevi’s old movies.

For crying out loud, Shruthi Haasan and Chiranjeevi dance to “Abba ni Kamma ni Debba” from Jagadeeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, in the same costumes. Chiranjeevi delivers a famous line by Ravi teja, sings an impromptu “Jaaru Mitaya” song, tries hard to convince that he can still be a romantic lead opposite younger Shruthi Haasan, runs around trying to be “Fun” Chiranjeevi which seems hard to digest at this moment. Andarivaadu [2005] had a similar issue and now, Waltair Veerayya has the same problems. Fan services, Meta References should be added advantages but not high points of a film. A similar kind of film, Petta [2019] had fan service written all over it but none of those moments feel to have been forced into the story or just written to give fans some high. They do add swag and some story to the proceedings. On the other hand, Megastar Chiranjeevi looks like he is mimicking himself and even buffooning at times, trying too hard to be that active young self. One can understand him trying to feel young again but he is asked to do all this, so that, his fans will enjoy it. I fail to understand, why can’t fans enjoy something fresh and occasional call-back. Why do they need their star to appear in every possible scene that he has already done in another movie, even better? Why should he repeat the same mannerisms? Why not try to add something new to his kitty? Vintage Chiranjeevi is not a clown but an actor and a hugely talented star who can pull off comedy, action, and sentiment all-in-one performances. Here, he struggles hard to turn the time back, unfortunately, even if we want to believe, he is not a Super-Man and the writers do not give him material that really stands true to his talent, as well.

A big brother accepts his step-brother but the step-brother’s mother doesn’t accept this one as her son. Taking this point, we have seen Shah Rukh Khan doing Main Hoon Na [2004] and convincing us with emotions in an action-centric film. Waltair Veerayya tries to be Petta, Vikram, and every other film possible without understanding, why Petta couldn’t create the same sensation as Vikram[2021] ? Lokesh Kanagaraj being a fan, tried to create something new and interesting with Kamal Haasan, while giving call-backs, soft references, and meta placements but all come into the story and give us a high. Here, every moment feels so forced that while fan enjoys it in parts, the common audience finds it being dragged on and forced on too much. The second half stops being a clairvoyance game or even a fan service as it tries to add another hero into the mix. For a story that is as old as cinema itself, adding another Mass hero like Ravi Teja and limiting his scenes to Megastar Chiranjeevi doesn’t add up to the plot or film’s purpose as well. It just looks like you saw one hero in the first half, let’s see another hero in the second half. The purpose behind all this? Some way or the other, let’s just make a film and hope that fans will enjoy it with enough hype. Commercial cinema is much more than that and Lokesh Kangaraj kind of filmmaker has been proving it. Still, we are asked to believe in those formulaic scenes only. Even if he accepts them, we get substandard scenes that don’t even have common sense.

The problem lies in even Megastar Chiranjeevi lacking the fire to explore something fresh. He has nothing to prove but he believes he still has to give a young hero a run for his money. He can happily encourage new concepts and limit the budget but he feels his fans will not be satisfied with that. So, is this the satisfaction that he can offer? If he just wants to be that 80’s Chiranjeevi again to prove to himself that he is not a loser, like how politics have portrayed him to be, then, he needs to take a break from these kinds of films and try maybe a Swamyamkrushi or Rudraveena kind of films with better technicians. What does he really lose, if he tries such films? In these kinds of films, he is losing his magic, his stature, and his ability to transform into a character. He might not have to newly acquire them but if he plays his age and becomes that father or big brother whom we can really identify with rather than being “BOSS” in every movie, maybe the respect could be regained, which he seems to have lost due to constant bullying and targeting for TRPs by media and in politics. Hundred Waltair Veerayya kinds of films cannot stand in front of Tagore or Shankar Dada MBBS, which are considered to be lesser in value than his Gang Leader or Manchi Donga kind of films. Megastar Chiranjeevi doesn’t need to be “Megastar” everywhere to satisfy “Massive” Chiranjeevi, he can be “Simple and Somber” Shiva Shankar Vara Prasad too, for us to celebrate him as Megastar.

Theatrical Trailer: Waltair Veerayya Review